My friend’s maternal grandfather just died but he isn’t grieved because, even though they live in the same city, he’s never met the man. An estrangement occurred more than thirty five years ago at the time Bob’s mother and father married and her parents objected. They pretty much disowned their daughter and no attempt at reconciliation was ever successful.

When Bob told me about all this I remembered that he has a brother who is also estranged. There was never an “event” that anyone could point to but he dropped out of the family and doesn’t want anything to do with them. I asked him if he thought there was a relationship between the two cases.

In the natural they would not seem to have a connection but perhaps there is a generational curse at work in Bob’s family, bringing a spirit of estrangement down into the next generation. This is not as far fetched as it sounds.

The Lord “who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:7).

Do you notice anything in your own family that seems to repeat itself among family members or through generations? Stand guard and pray. You may be the only one to recognize it and stop it in its tracks. Ask forgiveness on behalf on anyone who sinned in the past and opened the door to a family curse.

Claim God’s generational blessings instead of accepting curses. Why shouldn’t your family be one of the thousands God’s lovingkindness extends to?